Preferred Options

The Green Belt is a valuable asset to the whole community and building on it is the start of its decline.
Building on the Green Belt will cause the towns of Kenilworth and Leamington to coalesce.

The Leamington Society shares the concern at the lack of visitor attractions and the need to increase and enhance tourism. However we feel that the Council's policy is too narrow and limited in scope. It does not support "appropriate development of tourism and visitors accommodation" because it has no stated policy towards achieving many of the activities listed below, most of which are well established methods to attract visitors into the district, and particularly the town centres.
Surely the policy must spell out, in language easily understood by both residents and potential investors in the district, what can be done by us all, together with the incentives, in order to increase visitors and tourist income to our towns.
We believe the Council should consider the protection (from Change of Use orders), and encourage the construction and maintenance of buildings and open sites to house:
* Information Properly trained and staffed Information centres for all three main towns in central and accessible sites. These must be equipped with computerised real time booking facilities for local B&Bs and hotels and open long hours (as is done in Bath to great effect).
* Hotels Good value hotels to serve as a centre for touring in all three towns with provision for nearby and overnight parking. The prerequisite for new visitor accommodation in rural areas to be accessible by means other than the private car is unreasonable and too restrictive.
* Theatres, concert halls and cinemas Theatres for professional productions of plays, operatic and musical productions and with real facilities for amateur groups are needed, as are concert venues for professional and amateur groups good enough to attract international artists. These are in addition to the cultural quarter (Opportunity Site D) - the only site mentioned in the consultation document. The Spa Centre is but one example.
* Nightlife Nightclubs and evening entertainment activities (such as the successful Assembly rooms). Many student and amateur bands yearn to have town centre gigs.
* Food & Drink A choice of food and drink venues: Restaurants / Bistros / Bars and national popular brands (McDonalds, KFC, Wagamamas) in town centres.
* Sport Sporting events (such as National Bowling events in Victoria Park) and also to attract popular national events such as Darts / Choir contests / Indoor bowls / Talent shows etc.
* Markets & funfairs Facilities for fun-fairs and markets including regular markets for local crafts people


and other groups: Farmers markets, Christmas markets, the popular Arts Trail, the French market.
* Libraries and classrooms Libraries and Adult education provision: Line and ballroom dancing, art clubs, craft clubs, Tai Chi, Yoga, Literary clubs, Pilates and sport generally.
* Parking provision Provision of late night and low cost parking for evening events - is this a Planning issue?
* Religious events Churches, mosques, temples, the Gudwara, festivals, memorial services.
* Development of the town of Leamington Spa as a Conference Centre This should be considered with the E.C. Harris report on the district's assets (perhaps a good new use for the Town Hall or Riverside House?). The spa town of Harrogate is a successful conference centre model which consistently attracts national conferences and trade shows of a diverse nature. Examples are the Gift Fair, Antiques Fair, National Bedding Federation, National Furniture Show, Recruitment Fairs, All major Party Political and Trades Union conferences and others.

The provision for Camping and Caravanning sites (RAP15) should include provision for the accommodation of travellers. See PO7.
Central to the planning policy for tourism and its potential for genuine implementation must be the provision of good Policing and Security policies particularly for night time, late night and high attendance events.

Only Part D of PO6 is not fully supported by the Leamington Society:

A. The Leamington Society fully supports the principle of mixed housing and varied types but the means chosen in PO10 will not achieve this:
Garden suburbs prescribes row upon row of uniform suburban plots and is too homogenous. Only a small proportion of the population wants to grow their own food and cultivate a big garden. Many have neither the time, energy nor inclination for this and would be happy with communal parks and gardens and playing fields, which have scale and variety and someone else does the maintenance.
To meet varied need, a wider and more imaginative mix of terraced houses, flats and maisonettes around courtyards, with off-road parking facilities for cars and bicycles and rubbish bins, would take up less land and be more appropriate.
We consider it very important to avoid high concentrations of student accommodation and HMOs to maintain a balanced community. We recommend the introduction of maximum percentages of such properties or populations within specified areas. The number of houses in multiple occupancy, whether by students or others, has reached extremely high levels in much of south of the River Leam in Leamington (often referred to as Old Town). WDC has mapped the density of registered HMOs; see Item 6 and Appendices at
https://estates3.warwickdc.gov.uk/cmis/Meetingdates/tabid/73/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/410/Meeting/225/Committee/29/Default.aspx

This high density places an enormous strain on-street parking space. Therefore the new local plan needs to
* control both the density of HMOs
* require reasonable levels of off-street car-parking in all new HMOs
* ensure these requirements apply to HMOs, student accommodation and student hostels irrespective of their designation.
The Council should decide whether some areas of Leamington have already reached saturation point, and look at how well located student hostels could help manage the problem of over concentration.

Only Part D of PO6 is not fully supported by the Leamington Society:

A. The Leamington Society fully supports the principle of mixed housing and varied types but the means chosen in PO10 will not achieve this:
Garden suburbs prescribes row upon row of uniform suburban plots and is too homogenous. Only a small proportion of the population wants to grow their own food and cultivate a big garden. Many have neither the time, energy nor inclination for this and would be happy with communal parks and gardens and playing fields, which have scale and variety and someone else does the maintenance.
To meet varied need, a wider and more imaginative mix of terraced houses, flats and maisonettes around courtyards, with off-road parking facilities for cars and bicycles and rubbish bins, would take up less land and be more appropriate.
We consider it very important to avoid high concentrations of student accommodation and HMOs to maintain a balanced community. We recommend the introduction of maximum percentages of such properties or populations within specified areas. The number of houses in multiple occupancy, whether by students or others, has reached extremely high levels in much of south of the River Leam in Leamington (often referred to as Old Town). WDC has mapped the density of registered HMOs; see Item 6 and Appendices at
https://estates3.warwickdc.gov.uk/cmis/Meetingdates/tabid/73/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/410/Meeting/225/Committee/29/Default.aspx

This high density places an enormous strain on-street parking space. Therefore the new local plan needs to
* control both the density of HMOs
* require reasonable levels of off-street car-parking in all new HMOs
* ensure these requirements apply to HMOs, student accommodation and student hostels irrespective of their designation.
The Council should decide whether some areas of Leamington have already reached saturation point, and look at how well located student hostels could help manage the problem of over concentration.

Whilst the Leamington Society fully supports the "town centres first" principle we believe that the PO9 policy outlined does not reflect the needs, or indeed the views, of the citizens of the district. Neither does it respect or enhance the individuality, historic and cultural nature of our existing town centres.
the Leamington Society urge that the following comments are taken into account before the local plan is finalised.
Please see attachment for details

The Leamington Society supports the assertion (para. 12.26)

* The use of green space and vegetation, (such as street trees) to provide summer shading and allowing winter solar gain.
More street trees and vegetation will not only satisfy national and global Climate Change requirements but will also enhance the realm of Warwick District, making it a more pleasant area for everyone who lives or works here, or visits the district.

The Leamington Society supports the proposal for a Community Infrastructure Levy.